Would you buy 120k mile 135?

[e30fanatic]

I’ve been searching for a manual e82 for a while now and they are very hard to come by. A nice condition 128i manual sells within 1-2 days. I have found a 117k mile 135i with brown interior and Dakota metallic paint. Exterior and interior wise it’s mint bud upon asking the owner for service history, I was told it’s had regular oil changes and walnut blasts with vcg,ofhg, and oil pan gasket all done at 100k. It does have the later revision hpfp which was done at 78k but it’s still on original turbos (no rattle) and injectors are index 9 which was changed from index 8 in 2011. It honestly looks like a great car that was well maintained and would be blast and hasn’t been molested but I’m very wary of original turbos and it not having index 12 injectors which together is 5k in just parts. Would you just hold out until a 128 pops up?

[jwolf]

I own an n55 135i. I would take on a higher mileage N55 before the N54. I only know of the HPFP getting a design change in 2013. The 2012 version in my car went at 75k. You have the whole cooling system to consider too. Good luck.

[Eyeman]

As long as you get a proper price and know what you are getting into with a fairly high mileage European car, why not? These are excellent cars. If you get a turbo rattle it gives you an excuse to upgrade.

[Houranimd49]

I bought mine (N55) at 103k with not much service history. 5000 miles later and it’s been impeccable (I did do the maintenance when I bought it).

Given that your prospective car has what seems to be a good amount of service history, I would add that as a plus to going to buy it.

If the car is what you want and you can look past certain things, I’d just go for it.

[ptack]

Just keep in mind that the turbos will likely need to be replaced by 150k and that will cost a few grand even with aftermarket parts. If the car is otherwise excellent go for it. I'm at 216k (replaced the turbos a little beyond 150k).

[demas]

I got mine at a little over 60k miles - there were a few other 135’s below and over that. I did coils, plugs, battery and an ER chargepipe. Shortly afterwards had to replace the HPFP. The car is solid, drives great.

My last used car was an E39 540 M-Sport with only 20k miles in 2010 - but that thing gave me problem after problem weeks into purchase and until the day I sold it 4 years later.

I figure low mileage is not always going to mean trouble free/less in fact, could be a sign of a time bomb. At any rate there are going to be things to replace even if the car was maintained. It’s a bit of a gamble but better chance if it’s solid and records show regular maintenance.

Didn’t know the upgraded HPFP can be installed on the N55. I’ve got the very early N55 which shares that part with the N54.

[mfindigital]

These cars are mostly reliable if stock. If it's modded, run away at that mileage.

[PRTSB1M]

Originally Posted by e30fanatic

It honestly looks like a great car that was well maintained and would be blast and hasn’t been molested but I’m very wary of original turbos and it not having index 12 injectors which together is 5k in just parts. Would you just hold out until a 128 pops up?

If you like slow cars, wait for a 128; otherwise buy a 135. All E82s are 10 years old, at least, so you will be doing maintenance either way.

If you can film the exhaust of the car on a cold-start, you should be able to see if there is any puff of black smoke (leaking injectors). If the car wasn't tuned, the turbos could go another 20-30k easily. HPFP is a wear item and should probably be replaced every 60k on both n55 and n54. Aside from the injectors, the n54 is a better engine.